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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29137446">Leave Some Coffee Out for Your Local Fae</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcschnuggles/pseuds/mcschnuggles'>mcschnuggles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Schnugg's Regressuary 2021 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adopted by Nonhumans AU, Age Regression/De-Aging, CGRE - Caregiver/Age Regressor, Caregiver!Ann, Caregiver!Futaba, Fae &amp; Fairies, Gen, Regressing!Akira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:28:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,060</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29137446</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcschnuggles/pseuds/mcschnuggles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Leblanc doesn't get many customers, but in recent months, Akira has managed to attract a rather... unique customer base.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kurusu Akira &amp; Sakura Futaba, Kurusu Akira &amp; Takamaki Ann</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Schnugg's Regressuary 2021 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Regressuary, Regressuary 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Leave Some Coffee Out for Your Local Fae</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Welcome to Regressuary for the year! Hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>      Shiny snowflake decorations.</p><p>      Akira almost died because of shiny snowflake decorations.</p><p>      He thought it would be cute to decorate the café window with a winter theme, so imagine his surprise when it ended up attracting fae.</p><p>      At first, it was only one. Just a girl with a cat in her backpack. She was pretty enough to turn heads, but Akira hadn’t noticed anything was wrong until she placed an order.</p><p>      “Can I get a name?” he’d asked.</p><p>      She grinned, revealing teeth that he now realizes could never be human. “Of course.”</p><p>      Well, he’d asked for a name and she’d given him one. Aelfdane. The perfect name for a newly adopted fae child.</p><p>      Akira doesn’t know how she was able to tell he regresses, because she obviously doesn’t understand it. All she knows for sure is that he’s a little one and that she wants to keep him.</p><p>      There are few days that he doesn’t see her in Leblanc. Even if he’s too busy to talk, even if it’s just her, she’ll always come and sit for a while. Akira takes it as a compliment that she comes in for his coffee as much as she comes in for him.</p><p>      Business has been slow today. Akira has seen a handful of people since he opened, one of them being Ann. Her real name—her true name—isn’t Ann; it’s just the name she picked for his sake.</p><p>      She misses him, he can tell, because she’s been staring at him the entire time.</p><p>      Granted, fae just have a habit of staring at the things they love, which he’s learned from having six of them act as his caregivers.</p><p>      Ann tilts her head at him, her lips upturned in a soft smile. “When will I see the little one?”</p><p>      Her voice is melodic, like a music box in the distance. Beautiful, yes, but only made disconcerting by the fact he can’t place where the music is coming from.</p><p>      Akira glances up from the mug he’s drying. “I close at nine.”</p><p>      The cat perched at the counter flicks his tail. It used to freak Akira out—if Leblanc is otherwise empty, Morgana will just sit there and watch Akira’s every move—but being surrounded by fae, it’s easy to get used to weird silences and long bouts of staring.</p><p>      He tries to tell himself that Morgana is just doing his job. After all, Akira is the only possible threat in the area, and Morgana has to keep Ann safe.</p><p>      While she takes a human form, her guardian takes that of a cat. Akira still can’t tell if that’s more or less disquieting, especially since he also talks.</p><p>      “That’s not an answer.” Morgana points out.</p><p>      “It wasn’t meant to be.” Akira replies. He’s learned to be careful with his words. Direct answers could be binding—which led to some very awkward moments if he didn’t feel like regressing.</p><p>      He’s had to explain at least twice that he’s actually very grown-up most of the time, thank you very much, that he only needed a caregiver <em>sometimes</em>. Apparently the concept wasn’t all that familiar to fae.  </p><p>      “You know you could come live with us, right?” Ann says, pausing to sip her coffee. “The court is very excited to meet you.”</p><p>      “They’re welcome to visit too.” Akira knows enough about fae to know that going into their domain isn’t a good idea. Considering how concerned Ann and Morgana are with getting him into the fae world, no matter how safe he is, they’d find some way to trick him into staying.</p><p>      Plus, she says that like half of his regular customers aren’t a bunch of fae folk. There are six of them he knows for sure, probably more that he doesn’t.</p><p>      Aside from Ann and Morgana, there’s the court artist, the High Queen, and her two bodyguards. Ann’s pretty high up too, if he remembers right. A grandparent’s claim to royalty or something. Enough to have a bodyguard of her own. There’s also an archivist the others make mention of, but Akira doesn’t think he’s ever seen her.</p><p>      He isn’t sure when they collectively decided he needed looking after, but there’s hardly a moment in Leblanc where one of them isn’t in here with them.</p><p>      They’re all perfectly nice, and they always leave tips on their way out. Though Akira does wish they’d pay in cash instead of “jewels nurtured at the bosom of Nature” or whatever they were calling it.</p><p>      “The archivist won’t leave her chambers,” Ann replies sweetly. She has this tone in her voice that urges him to listen, even if she isn’t consciously trying to compel him. “Wouldn’t it be more fun if you came to visit her?”</p><p>      Akira shrugs. “We can video call if she wants.”</p><p>      But Ann doesn’t give up that easily. She always has a comeback, and often, the argumentation is part of the game. “Someone would take your place,” she insists. “You wouldn’t have to worry about the business.”</p><p>      Akira rolls his eyes. The fae just can’t seem to get their heads around the fact he <em>likes</em> his life. He likes working at Leblanc. It’s been a lot of work, since when his father decided to retire, he refused to hear anything about business after, but it’s nice.</p><p>      But at the same time, he likes the cuddles. He likes being fussed over, sitting in Yusuke’s lap and learning how to draw a cat. He likes Haru clapping her hands together and telling him what a good job he did with her coffee. He likes making curry for Ryuji and asking Makoto questions about fae.</p><p>      The door flies open, and the sound of the bell has Ann and Morgana flinching.</p><p>      The girl who runs in is not a regular customer. In fact, Akira hasn’t seen her once. But in the past few months, he’s gotten quite good at identifying the fae that walk in.</p><p>      Her skin is just a shade too pale, her eyes one hue too bright, but that’s the thing about fae. Everything is just the slightest bit off, but it’s hard to pinpoint one specific thing as the standout feature. While her bright red hair is eye-catching, it wouldn’t look out of place on a human either. The tips of her ears are just the slightest bit pointed, but it’s only noticeable because Akira’s looking for it.</p><p>      “The archivist,” Akira guesses.</p><p>      The redheaded fae’s eyes go wide. “Woah, how’d you guess?”</p><p>      “They mention you a lot.” In fact, she’s been their go-to guilt trip for the past week.</p><p>      “What are you doing here?” Ann asks. She doesn’t look angry, only surprised.</p><p>      “Well, you guys were taking <em>forever</em>. I wanted to see the baby!” She skitters over, and up close it becomes clear just how short she is. The archivist barely comes up to Akira’s chest, and her eyes are huge as she tilts back her head to look at him. “You’re so <em>tall</em>.”</p><p>      “I hear the court is excited to meet me.”</p><p>      The archivist nods. “The High Queen has never picked out a baby before. Plus, she comes to <em>visit you</em> in the human world. I had to see what the fuss was all about.” </p><p>      “Can I have your name?” Akira asks.</p><p>      The archivist giggles, waggling a chastising finger at him. “Nice try. Everyone calls me the archivist, but I picked out a human name just for you! You can call me Futaba.”</p><p>      “How did you even get here?” Morgana asks, his tail flicking in irritation. Knowing him, this is probably highly unorthodox and possibly illegal.</p><p>      “The portraitist brought me.” Futaba turns, again focusing her attention on Akira. It reminds him of how the others were at first, utterly unconcerned with one another in favor of the shiny new baby. “You look <em>just</em> like you do in his portrait of you.”</p><p>      Akira jerks his head to see Yusuke standing outside, positioned almost as if he’s guarding the door. While skilled in art, Yusuke isn’t fantastic in any form of combat, but Akira supposes that doesn’t matter when you’re six feet tall and otherworldly. “He painted a portrait of me?”</p><p>      “Yeah, but who cares?” Futaba climbs onto the counter, sitting so her face is inches apart from Akira’s. “I wanna meet the baby! Show me the baby!”</p><p>      “It doesn’t work like that.” Ann chides.</p><p>      “I know how it works!” Futaba huffs, shooting a glare over her shoulder. “I’ve read the reports.” She grins at Akira, the inhuman points of her teeth only making her more devious.</p><p>      Akira can’t help smiling back, feeling like he’s in on a secret. She seems like the type who’d let him have extra cookies even after Haru says no.</p><p>      “Let’s see…” Futaba reaches up and rakes her fingers through her hair, her nails gently scratching at his scalp. They’re slightly sharp, just like her teeth, but she’s the only one of the fae who didn’t accidentally hurt him on the first try.</p><p>      He melts into the touch, suddenly dangerously close to headspace. He hadn’t even planned on regressing, but he’s a good head pat away from melting into a puddle of goo.</p><p>      “How did you do that?” Ann asks.</p><p>      Futaba continues stroking his hair. Her thumbnail drags against his earlobe, and he melts all over again, unable to keep himself from resting his head on her shoulder.</p><p>      “I told you,” she says proudly. “I read the reports.”</p><p>      They’re not real reports. Ryuji told him so. It’s more just a log of what he likes and what he doesn’t. A lot of the fae make them for the children they take, since human children are so fundamentally different. The only difference for Akira’s is that his can’t be official until he permanently joins the court.</p><p>      “You seem tired,” Futaba comments. She cups his face in her hands and thumbs at his cheeks. “Would you like to go see Ryu and Mako?”</p><p>      That’s a trick. She <em>knows</em> Ryu and Mako are his favorites because they like to pick him up and carry him so much. Akira puffs his lip out in a pout. “They come here.”</p><p>      Futaba sighs. It was a valiant effort, but it was a beginner effort too. No amount of reading reports would have her prepared to go up against a stubborn toddler. “He <em>is</em> stubborn.”</p><p>      Morgana stands and stretches. “That’s the problem.”</p><p>      “Can—” Akira cuts himself off to clear this throat. He needs to be big, at least until the shop’s closed up. That’s the rule he has in place, for this exact reason. “I can lock up early for the night. I’ll show you my toys?” It’s his version of a compromise. Because he really truly does love spending time with everyone.</p><p>      Futaba beams. “Yes, please!”</p><p>      Akira makes quick work of closing up, flipping the sign and pouring a cup of coffee for Yusuke. The fae are weird about protection. They always need to have someone on lookout, even if the person isn’t technically a bodyguard. He and Morgana will likely swap places at some point in the night, but for now, he’s on protection detail. So it’s the least Akira can do. As thanks for keeping him safe.</p><p>      Ann and Morgana know the drill by now. They’ve put him to bed more times than he can count, so they head upstairs to get things ready.</p><p>      He still lives in the attic of Leblanc, same as he did when he was Sojiro’s foster kid. It was just easier to have one building to maintain instead of two, and now that he has his own money, he can at least use some of it to touch up his living quarters. Not to mention that he got some of the nicer furniture when Sojiro sold the house and moved out by the coast.</p><p>      When Akira glances back at the counter, the cup of coffee is gone, and a handful of shiny coins sit in its place. Frankly, Akira is stunned to receive actual money, even if it is Canadian currency.</p><p>      He knows the folklore. After being dragged into the middle of it, how could he not research it? But fae take children for a few reasons, the reason here being to feel the love of a child. They don’t need him in the fae realm for that.</p><p>      In fact, the way they’re willing to meet him halfway makes him love them even more.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>mcschnuggles.tumblr.com</p></blockquote></div></div>
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